Han Khan

Chapter 21, Kill the Enemy and Go to Heaven

The dead soldiers were his most loyal subordinates, brothers, and his support. They threw themselves into the battle without hesitation, but now they are sleeping forever.

Zhang Sheng took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He knew that now was not the time to be sad, and there were more things he needed to do.

He looked at Yin Shanxiong firmly and said in a sonorous voice: "Treat the wounded as soon as possible and withdraw from the battle. Then register the names of the fallen soldiers, clean up their bodies, and prepare the pyre. I will lead you to pray for their salvation.

Yin Shanxiong nodded respectfully and replied, "Yes, Your Highness! I will do it right away." After that, he turned and left, and began to organize people to handle the matter.

Zhang Sheng stood alone, gazing into the distance. A strong sense of mission surged in his heart, and he vowed to lead the Jinhan people out of their current predicament and build a country and a family.

Bring comfort to the dead Jinhan people. The war is not over yet, he wants to lead the soldiers to move forward...

Under the stunned gaze of all the Uighurs kneeling on the ground, everyone gathered together and a flag with a golden "T" character on a blue background was heavily stuck into the ground by Zhang Sheng.

Four captains of the royal guards led the members of the royal guards, and ten centurions led a group of Jinhan warriors and stood behind Zhang Sheng.

At this time, Zhang Sheng bowed his head to the sacred flag, and then shouted: "The Most High Haotian is in the sky, your glorious name will last forever!"

The Jinhan soldiers behind him followed one after another.

Then the grand prayer ceremony began.

All the Jinhan people followed the emperor in their hearts, knelt on one knee, raised their long swords with both hands, and stared at the sacred flag.

"In the past, Haotian came to the world and created the heaven and earth. Today, I pray that Haotian God will listen to the prayers of the Jinhan people and grant us abundant blessings and good fortune.

May your followers and descendants continue to worship you in the ancestral temple. May our devout people and descendants be filled with joy and boundless happiness when we worship you. "

“Your Majesty, the Supreme Lord of Heaven, I wish that the souls of the holy warriors who died fighting for you will return to heaven and be embraced by you again.

May the spirits of the holy warriors be with us living people, and may the people live in prosperity and well-being for thousands of generations. Long live the supreme and one and only Majesty! Long live the living emperor! Long live the mighty Jin Han! "

There were thousands of Jinhan warriors, who, at the command of their leader Zhang Sheng, knelt on one knee and held their weapons upwards with both hands.

At this time, the Jin Han people who were kneeling on one knee once again chanted in a neat and solemn voice: "Thank God for giving us the weather with moderate wind and rain, thank our parents for raising us with strong bodies, so that we have enough food and bodies to win glory on the battlefield, and we will conquer any enemy, plunder everything from the enemy, eradicate evil sacrifices and make people in the world convert to God. Long live the Supreme God!!"

Listen, I just want to ask you if you are afraid.

At this time, they didn't know whether they should stand or kneel down.

It took the Uighurs a while to realize that the Tang people were performing a prayer ceremony. They had seen prayers before, but they had never seen anything like this.

As early as the distant Shang Dynasty, solemn and dignified prayer ceremonies were popular among the Chinese.

The people of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period actually held a grand prayer ceremony on the battlefield, which directly scared away the arrogant people of Chu at the time.

This ritual has been continuously inherited and developed throughout history, and was even more popular during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.

Especially in the Jin State during the Spring and Autumn Period, its strong faith and solemn and grand prayers were particularly eye-catching.

In that era, people were full of awe for the gods. They expressed their inner piety and supplications through prayer, hoping to receive the protection and blessing of the gods.

These prayer ceremonies not only reflected the religious beliefs of the society at that time, but also became a cultural tradition, deeply imprinted in the historical memory of the people of Zhuxia.

The God mentioned by the descendants of the Xia Dynasty is not the one from the West, but the Supreme and Most High Jade Emperor of Heaven and Earth. With such a long title, I just want to ask, are you scared? ?
Anyway, when the people who were enemies of the Xia heard this, they were very scared. They actually prayed directly to the gods in the sky and openly talked about conquest and plunder. They were more barbaric than barbarians. They must be afraid!

However, in later dynasties, there was no longer such a prayer ceremony from top to bottom. Now only the emperor was qualified to pray, and the soldiers and civilians just had to watch.

But people need spiritual sustenance, which can be family members or firm beliefs.

Generally speaking, the Han Chinese civilizations would regard their relatives as spiritual sustenance or seek the glory of their ancestors. Therefore, most people in the Han Chinese civilizations believed in offering sacrifices and worshipping their ancestors.

Or, people can believe in any religion, but they cannot give up the right to worship their ancestors.

At present, almost the entire Western Regions, Hexi and Central Plains are worshipping Buddhism.

However, it is surprising that few people believe in Buddhism in the true birthplace of Buddhism. So what is the situation of Buddhism in the Central Plains, and why can it develop and grow so rapidly?

The reason is simply that a monk gained the faith of the ruler and thus changed the faith of a region from top to bottom.

Then Zhang Sheng and the soldiers of the royal guard set fire to the Jin and Han warriors who had died in the battle and were placed on the pyre.

Zhang Sheng recited a scripture adapted from the Buddhist "The Sutra of the Past Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" to pray for the souls of these warriors, making everyone believe that the spirits of the warriors who died in battle had ascended to heaven.

This was given to him by Cardinal Zhang Zhongxian before he left. The Holy Religion was just established, so in this situation, everything was for the purpose of strengthening the Holy Religion and gaining the devout faith of the people.

The ashes of the fallen warriors were canned, labeled with names, and put into boxes, ready to be taken back.

After the prayer, the Jin Han people stood up and looked at their leader Zhang Sheng with fanatical eyes.

They devoutly believed that their leader Zhang Sheng was the living emperor, believed in the holy religion he founded and the priests he canonized, and believed that the Jin Han people who died in the battle would be promoted to heaven, which was a spiritual comfort in their hearts.

People must have faith as a comfort to their souls, otherwise it will be difficult to survive healthily in this difficult and cruel era.

The Jinhan people's belief is the only god "Haotian Shangdi" and the rituals of the holy religion.

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The next morning, led by their Uighur slave guides, the Jin and Han people headed towards the Qilian Mountains.

Traveling south along the Ganquan River, there are many Kucha Uighurs and Tibetans grazing.

Zhang Sheng planned to continue attacking these Uighurs and loot enough supplies and slaves.

The soldiers counted the spoils for a long time last night and finally finished counting the spoils. The harvest of this battle is as follows: nearly 600 stones of salt, more than 1000 horses, more than 3700 yaks and cattle, more than 27000 sheep, 107 sets of iron armor, more than 1200 bows and arrows, more than 1600 spears, and more than 300 swords. It was quite a harvest.

In this case, take everything with you. When you return to the Daze camp downstream of the Ganquan water, the tribe will have large carts carrying the wounded, ashes of dead soldiers, and supplies, and will be driving livestock and Uighur slaves, marching in a mighty procession.

Zhang Sheng did not plan to climb the Qilian Mountains grassland, but instead planned to plunder the Kucha Uighurs at the foot of the Qilian Mountains and on the hillsides.

After this battle, he deeply realized how powerful the military force he held in his hands was. He was not greedy, but he wondered why these Hu people were allowed to plunder Dunhuang.

At this moment, he was holding a sharp knife and was filled with murderous intent.

He wanted to plunder the Hu people and strengthen the strength of the Jinhan tribe. Of course, Zhang Sheng now only led more than 1000 cavalry and 500 Uighur slave infantry.

He must not be greedy and end up with too many captives, cattle, sheep and other property under his command that are difficult to control. After all, he still has no place to settle down, so as to avoid losing more than he gains.

Now, due to deaths and injuries, there are only 1147 soldiers left in the Royal Guards and ten centuries.

While marching, they had to guard more than 3000 prisoners, as well as a large number of cattle, sheep and carts, so the marching speed slowed down a lot.

At this time, the personal guards reported that four to five hundred tents of herdsmen were discovered ahead, including not only Kucha Uighurs, but also many Tibetans grazing here.

Zhang Sheng waved his hand to signal the ten centurions and slave soldiers to attack. Immediately, Jin Han's thousand cavalry warriors drove their horses, charged forward quickly, and surrounded the enemy in a semicircle.

By the time these herdsmen realized what was happening, the Jin Han cavalry had already rushed into their camp, killing people everywhere and setting fire to the firewood. Arrows, bows and swords made the panicked Tibetans and Uighurs fall to the ground one after another, and they were hit hard by the surprise attack.

When he arrived under the protection of his personal soldiers, all he saw was a scene of wolves and pigs running in panic.

The battle finally came to an end as the last enemy on horseback was beheaded by the Jinhan warriors.

This is a tribe of 2000 tents with more than people. According to the Uighur guide, this tribe was once the Dongdai slave tribe of the Tibetans. The majority of its people are Uighurs, and there is also a third of Tibetan slaves.

In order to avoid the chaos in the snowy plateau, they continued to migrate to the foot of the Qilian Mountains.

This is actually not a surprising thing. Although the Tibetans had long since fallen apart on the snowy plateau, the Tibetan nobles are still extremely powerful today. How could the lowly Umu people (slaves) dare to compete with the nobles?
But it doesn't matter. I only care about the spoils and the number of prisoners brought by the war, and I don't care about other aspects.

(End of this chapter)